Healthcare technologies for low resource settings (session 1)

Brian is a biomedical engineering researcher and innovator working with Makerere University where he also assists in tutoring and lecturing students. He has a vested interest in research and innovations around maternal and child health and infectious diseases with focus on technologies and rapid diagnostics. He is the coordinator under the Center for design, Innovation and Translational Excellence (CITE) at Makerere University. He is also a lead and or coordinator on a number of projects including the Early Preeclampsia Detection Strip Project, the KeySuite Laparoscopic device, the LeVe CPAP system, MATICA-mathematics learning, phototherapy and UltraViolet light applications. 

Pete is Professor of Healthcare Engineering and Director of Post Graduate Research in the School of Mechanical Engineering. His expertise is in multidisciplinary research on medical device technologies, particularly focusing on sustainability and global healthcare challenges. His current funding supports projects on sensors to identify diabetic foot ulcer risk, designing ‘frugal’ MedTech equipment for low-resource settings in India and Africa, and engineering to support ‘circular’ (reusable) medical devices. Pete is sustainability co-lead of the Leeds NIHR HealthTech Research Centre (HRC) for Accelerated Surgical Care, driving strategies to improve sustainability and reduce carbon emissions in the NHS sector. He sits on the Institute of Mechanical Engineers’ Biomedical Engineering Division committee and co-chairs their “Incontinence, An Engineering Challenge” conference series.

Amarpreet Rai brings more than 10 years of experience in the emerging markets and with innovative medical devices. As one of the co-founders of Sanrai, she is skilled in bringing an idea from concept to maturity. In 2023, Ms. Rai became the Managing Director with responsibility over the entire global operation with a goal of making healthcare accessible to all. She is passionate about reducing inequality and commercializing the latest healthcare innovations. 

Oliver Niemann brings to Drive Medical over 25 years of medical industry experience and Business Leadership. In 2009, Mr. Niemann moved into the Executive role of Managing Director of DeVilbiss Healthcare for the entities in Germany, France and UK. Following the acquisition event by Drive Medical, in 2015 Mr. Niemann joined the Drive DeVilbiss Corporation. He played an integral role streamlining the various international sales and operational activities for the entire Drive DeVilbiss product portfolio. Since 2018 when Mr. Niemann earned additional responsibility as the Managing Director for Drive Medical GmbH in Isny/Germany and since 2023 for Drive  DeVilbiss Nancy/France respectively, the goal is continued improvement and merging business functions by always keeping focus on the customer. 

Miranda is the Strategy and Evidence Lead for the Oxygen CoLab, and is responsible for ensuring the work emerging from this innovation programme supports and informs progress towards equitable oxygen access. Her work more broadly centers on forming communities, networks, and movements that harness collective intelligence for impactful change, particularly in healthcare. With a background in design and social entrepreneurship, she has worked with and for community organisations, NGOs, National Health Services, government, and regulatory bodies to address systemic inequalities and co-create sustainable futures.

Rita is the Project Lead for the Oxygen Colab's oxygen concentrator testing programme. For the last 12 years she has dedicated her career to working on some of the most pressing needs within developing countries. She brings extensive experience of working to promote innovative solutions in both her many years of field work in humanitarian emergency response and resilience settings, and the development sector. Rita holds an MSc in Population and Development from the London School of Economics.

Chris Paton is a UK-trained medical doctor and clinical researcher specialising in the field of Clinical Informatics. He currently works part-time for the University of Otago and part-time (remotely) for the University of Oxford.

His current research interests include investigating the adoption of AI technologies for clinical decision support and evaluating the safety and clinical usability of electronic health records (EHR) systems.

He teaches several courses about Digital Health for the School of Computing: "Introduction to Digital Health and Informatics"; "Digital Health Technologies and Systems"; and "Research Methods for Digital Health".

He’s a Fellow of the British Computer Society, a member of ACM SIGCHI, and chairs the IMIA Open Source Software working group.